Hôtel Solvay

Hôtel Solvay stands at Avenue Louise 224, on the Ixelles side of Brussels, Belgium. It was commissioned by Armand Solvay, son of the chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay, whose soda-making process underpinned one of Belgium's largest industrial fortunes. The architect Victor Horta designed the house between 1894 and 1903 as a total work of art, planning not just the structure but also the interior decoration, the furniture, the door handles and the light fittings. It is considered one of the high points of his career and of Art Nouveau architecture in general.

The facade is made of stone with curved bay windows and wrought-iron balconies in the characteristic whiplash curve. Inside, the house is organised around an open stairwell lit by a glass roof, with a staircase of marble and wood leading to the upper floors. The materials include onyx, bronze, tropical woods, stained glass and mosaic floors, and many of the original fittings, including furniture and lighting, survive. Horta's use of exposed iron structure and flowing plant-like forms contrasts with the heavy historicist styles of the period.

The building is among those works by Horta in Brussels that were inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, alongside the Hôtel Tassel, the Hôtel van Eetvelde and Horta's own house, now a museum. The house has remained in private hands and has been restored with specialist craftsmen working on the stonework, metalwork and decorative surfaces. Because it is not a standard museum, visits are organised as guided tours that must be reserved in advance, and the number of places is limited.

The Avenue Louise setting, a boulevard of luxury shops and townhouses, belongs to the historic bourgeois district that developed in the late 19th century. Visitors interested in Art Nouveau often combine the house with the Horta Museum in Saint-Gilles and other facades nearby.